New pictures of Lucy...

...over on the photo blog.  These were taken at six months and now she's 9 months.

December

Just a few of the things we did in December.

First...drumroll...Shane graduated with his Masters! *Confetti*
It was a long road, but we made it through and I'm so proud of this guy!

The Hooding

This is Dr. Cena who was Shane's professor and commitee chair for his project. Shane would be embarrassed if he knew I was writing this, but I have to say it hon. When I met Dr. Cena at the graduation, he was pouring on the praise about Shane and then said, "Your husband has been one of the greatest scholars I have worked with." Way to go Shane, you deserve it!

Jayne turned 3!

This little girl is all sass, but all sweetness too. I know, it's a weird combo, but she pulls it off somehow :)

  
 

My best pal in the world was in town and came to Jayne's party with her cute kids. Jayne and Ruby hit it off...especially after Ruby gave Jayne this Snow White dress.

Little did Ruby know that Jayne lives in dress up clothes. (see example below later) Her favorite present, bar none.

 

So for some reason I had Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T." stuck in my head the day of Jayne's birthday.  So I decided to play it at her party and dance.  I had no idea how much my kids would love it.  They beg for it daily and it has been a non-stop dance party ever since, especially when people come over.

 

 

 Max's performance.
We put Max in a little singing class since he has already had 2 years of preschool.  Max was always really outgoing, but then he went through a really shy stage...almost had anxiety to do anything new, even fun stuff like birthday parties.  Primary programs, no way.  Wouldn't even get up on the stand.  He has slowly been coming out of it.  You can imagine how proud I was when he was actually excited to get up on stage.  He sang all his parts and did all the actions.

 

He's the one in the middle, second row, next to the kid in the argyle sweater.

Christmas!

Christmas was as wonderful as always.  We loved being together, starting some new traditions, and thinking about our Savior's birth.

Picking out a tree and decorating it

We loved our elf on the shelf (thanks Al and Em!).  So cute to watch the kids find him and sneak private conversations with him.  They named him Charlie.  If Lucy would have been a boy, she would most definitely have been Charlie.  I guess the kids didn't want the name to go to waste :)

 

Leaving a treat for Santa.  I'm pretty sure Max doesn't think Santa's name is Stu, that's just how he sounded it out :)

Fort Christmas.  So when I was a kid, my bros and I would build a fort to sleep in on Christmas Eve.  We have loved carrying that tradition on in our little family.

The fort lighting ceremony

Dad was cordially invited into the lair

 

Christmas Morning

 This constituted much of the kids activities at Shane's parents house.  Our nephew, also Max, lining the kids up and jumping over them, sans shirts.  They couldn't get enough of it.

 

our Christmas card

And we'll end this gigantic post with some random cuteness...enjoy!

Lucy finds a friend :)

Jayne in some of her daily uniforms.  The last two are with her friend Lily.

 

Silly faces with cousins Masey and Kaya